The difference between beating down and taming monsters and simply taking control of them with Karmic Control was night and day. The first took minutes to hours to accomplish depending on the monster. Furthermore, the control was loose, and the monsters were still a bit wild. I could give them simple orders, like bring more or protect this, but in general, they were still a bit wild. It was like with Elaya. Although she was my tamed monster, it was only in name. I couldn’t force her to do anything she didn’t want to do.

When it came to infecting their Karma, they became much more obedient. They were like the monsters I had created in my dungeon, I started to realize. I couldn’t see through their eyes or read their thoughts, but I did have a feeling of their intent and could influence that intent. As Monster Tamer increased, I had a distinct feeling that ability would increase too.

After spending several days in the cave, admittedly recovering a bit from my shock and feelings of helplessness, I was ready to assist the troop in recruiting. I had forgotten how much I had depended on my girls. They had always propped me up, and whenever I hit a setback, there were a half-dozen beautiful women to encourage me to try again. Under those circumstances, it was very easy to act strong. I hadn’t even realized until now how much I had depended on them to support me emotionally. It was only now that they were all taken away that I realized how, as strong as I had become on the outside, I was still the same scared guy who got dumped.

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Well, it had only been half a year since I had ended up in that world, and only going on two months since I had been in this place. Anyone who expected someone to change into a completely different person in such a short period would be an idiot. Even cleaving my soul didn’t change who I was, it just cut away some attributes to allow others to come to the surface.

The main thing that I had that the bandits didn’t was my Map and Sense Life. It made it far easier to track down and find powerful enemies. Of course, the bandits weren’t as strong as I was. Perhaps, if the Bandit Hero was still around, he’d be able to help, but most of the larger enemies like the giants were something I had to do mostly on my own. If fifty bandits worked together, they might be able to capture a giant, but they also might lose four or five in the process. Since I didn’t even know if reincarnation was an option, and I didn’t want to lose as many as I gained, I took a more active role in capturing them.

As I tamed more monsters, despite it being a Mimic ability, I found my Monster Tamer leveling up too. Everything was gaining experience. It appeared I didn’t need to kill a monster to get the experience, I just needed to defeat it. Like that, I was able to steadily build an army. That’s when something popped up in my vision I had never seen before.

{You have staked a sufficient claim of this dungeon. You are a rival Dungeon Master. You currently control 2% of the dungeon.}

Now, that was interesting.